HÀ NỘI – The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs has ordered the Department of Overseas Labour to withdraw the licence of Civil Engineering Construction Joint Stock Corporation 8 (CIENCO 8) that allows the export of labour to foreign countries.

The order was issued on Thursday after the ministry’s inspectors confirmed that CIENCO 8 violated regulations on running labour export services.

Inspectors said that despite a warning from the ministry last month, the corporation was found to have not yet fulfilled its commitment to dealing with wrongdoings and was not ready to co-operate with labour authorities in ensuring both administrative and financial procedures to be adhered to in labour export services.

The services had been halted for two months due to violations in organising, managing and training labourers overseas. The corporation also had to pay administrative fines of about VNĐ120 million for their violations.

Inspectors from the ministry said the corporation’s activities in training and managing labourers before and after travelling overseas to work, had not been improved. Particularly, during an urgent inspection in mid-February, the corporation was found not to have any centre or representative office to maintain relations between employers and employees.

Workers who had received contracts to work overseas, were not provided with adequate information about their employers, their work or life in foreign countries.

Some of the workers even had to pay a brokerage fees much higher than those regulated.

Việt Nam has advocated "labour export" as the means to alleviate unemployment and boost domestic labour skills.

Last year, more than 126,000 workers were sent overseas against the target of 100,000. This year, about 105,000 workers are projected to be sent overseas, with the most popular destinations continuing to be Taiwan, Japan and South Korea, according a report from the Department of Overseas Labour.

However, labour export services are operating under poor management by companies and authorities, and lack knowledge on labour laws.

In the latest case, local media reported that people often had to pay brokerage fees much higher than those regulated. Under the ministry’s regulations, a person has to pay a maximum fee of US$4,000 to a labour export company to work in Taiwan. The fee includes expenses for the agency, recruitment, passport and other legal procedures.

However, many labour export businesses continue to collect higher fees from workers. Some labour export enterprises in Hà Nội were found to be collecting fees of between $5,000-6,000 from workers who wanted to work in Taiwan. — VNS